A bag of monumental scale, a sea-going bag designed for the bulk transportation of potable water. This type of towable bag was pioneered in the 80s as a lower cost alternative to potable water transportation in tankers and through pipelines. Fresh drinking water is lighter than seawater, and so this large water-filled object floats naturally when it is tugged to its destination. Large-scale water bags are made of a 2 mm-thick (0.83 in.) plastic-coated polyester fabric. A standard water bag has a length of 200 m. (656 ft.) and contains 35,000 tons of water. In 2001, Nordic Water Supply, the Norwegian company that pioneered this method of water transportation, had plans to manufacture bags that could contain up to 100,000 tons of water with a length similar to that of a supertanker (350m. / 1,148 ft.). A bag of such dimension may very well be the largest flexible container in the world. But its political implications are far more important than its size. With more than 1.7 billion people in the world lacking access to sanitary water supply and 33 countries facing water shortages, the corporatization of drinking water casts a grim shadow: by 2025, when more than 1 billion people will face absolute water scarcity according to predictions, a small group of private companies will be profiting from trading with water. How is it possible that drinkable water is a commodity and not a resource that belongs to all human beings?
